Album Review - Steve Forbert - Rocking Horse Head

There's something startling about Steve Forbert's voice -- a cracked rasp being stubbed out on the cement -- that will surprise you with a sudden laugh or audible wince.

It's such a real sound that it brings an immediacy to his songs, which are vivid enough in their exacting language and simple, stark situations.

Forbert sounds like the hop-skip-and- jumping youth of ``Romeo's Tune.'' But the characters on ``Rocking Horse Head'' sound a bit battered down.

When one visits a gypsy and gets bad news on ``My Time Ain't Long,'' he tries to convince himself that it ain't so: ``Who says my time ain't long?''

In ``Dear Lord,'' a man simply prays: ``Send me someone else.''

Lots of songwriters sing about the moon, but Forbert takes a perspective from the moon looking down, ---- waiting for ``one Earthling girl.''

Many of the tunes resonate from Forbert's last appearance locally. But filled out with a modest band, they tend to have more of a kick. The mandolin and fiddle of Max Johnson add extra sweetening as well.

Forbert's been up and down over the years, and his new album is on a small label. But he keeps turning out decent work. And this one is worth tracking down.